LONDON (Reuters) -Oleksandr Usyk floored Briton Daniel Dubois in the fifth round of a thrilling contest at Wembley Stadium on Saturday to once again become the undisputed heavyweight boxing world champion.
The win saw Usyk reclaim the IBF belt he vacated last year, before a December rematch with Tyson Fury, with Dubois upgraded to champion and then defending the title against compatriot Anthony Joshua last September.
Asked about beating his younger opponent, Usyk said: “38 is a young guy, remember! 38 is only (the) start!
“I want to say thank you to Jesus Christ. I want to say thank you to my team and Wembley, thank you so much! It’s for the people.
“Nothing is next. It’s enough, next, I don’t know. I want to rest. My family, my wife, my children, I want to rest now. Two or three months, I want to just rest.”
Usyk’s technical ability was on full display from the outset as he sidestepped everything thrown his way with deceptive ease and connected repeatedly with his jab, putting on a masterclass in counter-punching.
Despite weighing in at a career-heaviest 227.3 pounds on Friday, Usyk floated around the ring with an almost balletic grace and prevented Dubois from making the most of his superior size.
The Ukrainian comfortably outclassed his opponent in three of the first four rounds, but most of the damage was dealt out in a brutal fifth-round beatdown.
The Ukrainian sent his opponent to the canvas with an overhand right, before a booming left hand right on the chin dashed Dubois’ dreams and brought an end to the bout.
The unification fight was a rematch of one that Dubois lost by a controversial ninth-round knockout in Wroclaw, Poland, in 2023, after Usyk was given time to recover from what the referee ruled was a low blow.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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